The Maths Arcade at Sheffield Hallam University has been developed since it was established in 2012. The move to a new space has led to an increase in its popularity and inter-year interactions. It has added to the extensive number of factors that help ease the transition into university. In particular, it now features in the induction week programme and plays a part in our peer assisted learning scheme. In addition to the weekly sessions enjoyed by the students, the Maths Arcade has also been used at a number of events such as the final year de-stress day, and used by the Women in Engineering and Mathematics Society. The Maths Arcade has also hosted another Rubik’s cube championship.
Being situated within a course at the applied end of the spectrum of maths degrees, the pure mathematics modules at Sheffield Hallam University have an applied spin. Pure topics are taught through consideration of practical examples such as knots, cryptography and automata. Rubik's cubes are used to teach group theory within a final year pure elective based on physical examples. Abstract concepts, such as subgroups, homomorphisms and equivalence relations are explored with the cubes first. In addition to this, conclusions about the cubes can be made through the consideration of algebraic approaches through a process of discovery. The teaching, learning and assessment methods are explored in this paper, along with the challenges and limitations of the methods. The physical use of Rubik's cubes within the classroom and examination will be presented, along with the use of peer support groups in this process. The students generally respond positively to the teaching methods and the use of the cubes.
The peer assisted learning (PAL) scheme in the mathematics degree at Sheffield Hallam University consists of final year PAL leaders guiding groups of first year students through an assessment task. Evaluation of the scheme in 2014-15 took place through a number of methods, including questionnaires, reflective log book comments and group contribution sheets. The scheme was found to help to ease the transition into university, help develop a mathematics community through the creation of support groups, and encourage inter-year interactions, developing skills, and increasing confidence of all involved. Engagement and enjoyment was very high and success extended far beyond the duration of the scheme. Despite the overall success, improvements will be made following on from comments and suggestions made by students.
An assignment from Higher Education is presented within this paper as a case study of students generating their own examples whilst working in groups. The student perspective was gained through a questionnaire at the end of the assignment with each cohort over a three year period, which was completed by 123 students in total. The students provided insight on creating their own examples, as well as the group work aspect of the assignment. In particular, students indicated what they believe to be the most beneficial assessment approaches. Elements of learning, understanding and motivation are explored, and the student perspective is compared with the literature.
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